Tag Archives: grove

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Grove in Transition

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Aspen Grove in Transition
An Eastern Sierra Nevada aspen grove just past peak autumn color.

Aspen Grove in Transition. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An Eastern Sierra Nevada aspen grove just past peak autumn color.

The first instinct, I think, when viewing and photographing autumn aspen trees is to just go for the brilliant colors. I’m no less guilty of giving into that understandable instinct than the next person. At its least sophisticated, this can amount to “point at the colors and snap!” But it turns out — no surprise! — that there’s a lot more to see in aspen trees that only reveals itself after having that initial experience. In short, there’s more than one way to photograph this subject!

While I subconsciously assume that the ideal tree is one that is completely covered with brilliantly colorful leaves, I keep learning and relearning that often the more interesting trees are those in the “imperfect” stages before and after the peak color transition. For example, one colorful tree can seem even more colorful against a backdrop of trees that are still at least partially green. The beauty of the colorful trees may seem just a bit more poignant when the scene reveals how transitory the phenomenon is.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Autumn Aspens, Ridge and Haze

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Autumn Aspens, Ridge and Haze
Autumn aspen “color” in black and white, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Autumn Aspens, Ridge and Haze. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn aspen “color” in black and white, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention —or at least a trigger to try something different that what I would usually be doing with a subject like this one. The subject is, of course, “fall color” from the Eastern Sierra Nevada aspens. The challenge at times on this visit to the area was the wildfire smoke was obscuring a lot of the landscape and muting and altering the colors. Late-summer and autumn wildfire smoke has long been a seasonal feature in and around the Sierra Nevada, but the situation has become much worse in recent years. The fires a larger and they last longer, with the end result being a whole lot of smoke in the air.

So, what to do? There are almost always ways to shoot around such challenges. One is to forego the large landscape and shoot more intimate subjects — perhaps focus on one grove, one tree, or even one leaf rather than on the grove in the larger landscape. Another is to embrace the smoky conditions and try to find a way to make aesthetically compelling photographs of that subject. Another option is to move to monochrome. The smoke that looks brown and ugly in color can merely look like interesting haze in black and white. Of course, this leaves us with another challenge when the subject is fall… color. But we photographed autumn in black and white in the past. We can still do that.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Autumn Aspens, Sage Brush Country

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Autumn Aspens, Sage Brush Country
A sage brush country grove of colorful autumn aspen trees in back-light, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Autumn Aspens, Sage Brush Country. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A sage brush country grove of colorful autumn aspen trees in back-light, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Wildfire smoke has posed challenges to Californians and those in other western states in recent years, and the current historic drought in the state has produced even more widespread and often large fires. We have come to live with smoke levels that are occasionally very unhealthy and almost always aesthetically displeasing. Almost every late-summer or autumn visit to the Sierra during the past two seasons has been affected, and on several occasions I have had to cut trips short as a result.

On this month’s brief visit to the eastern Sierra things were a bit better in the Sonora Pass area and a bit south, but the conditions deteriorated quickly starting just north of Mono Lake. Photographically speaking, this creates some rather serious challenges, especially when smoke covers (and discolors the atmosphere of) the larger landscape. There are some options — black and white can often work in such conditions or one can focus on closer subjects, composting to eliminate the longer views. The latter is what I did in this photograph of grove of small aspens growing in a shallow valley in sagebrush-covered hills, where back-light intensified the colors of the fall foliage.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Groves, Peaks, and Clouds

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Aspen Groves, Peaks, and Clouds
Clouds move in above Eastern Sierra peaks and autumn aspen groves.

Aspen Groves, Peaks, and Clouds. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Clouds move in above Eastern Sierra peaks and autumn aspen groves.

The fall color was the objective of my recent visit to the Eastern Sierra Nevada — and I did find it — but the weather and related conditions were perhaps the bigger story. Every fall we start to watch the forecasts, hoping to see the first early Pacific weather fronts arrive. They signal the advent of winter conditions, can bring rain and snow, and can sometimes last a day or more. In most years they begin in October, though the really big storms are still a ways in the future. During my visit early in the month, several weak fronts arrived and affected the weather. It turned cold, clouds lingered over the crest, and a small amount of rain and snow fell.

I made this photograph in a valley along the eastern front of the Sierra, where the sagebrush country rises toward higher peaks, and aspens and eventually conifers begin to predominate. Mixed sun and clouds moved varying light across this landscape, and clouds were settling in over the more distant peaks of the high country.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.